Seven suicides already in 2006

Seven Nunavummiut have taken their own lives in the first eight weeks of the new year, says Tim Neily, Nunavut’s chief coroner.

That’s higher than the number of suicides by this time last year. If this rate persists, Nunavut will see the worst year ever for suicides, although the numbers do not typically occur at a steady pace throughout the year.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, two people died by suicide in two different communities.

Neily notes that suicides in the past year have been both slightly younger and slightly older than in the past, when the vast majority of suicides were males aged 14 to 21.

Since 1999, four 13-year-olds have taken their own lives.